Today was turning out to be the kind of day that started on a high note, only to swiftly plummet downhill for Paul. Having Phoenix accept his offer of adoption and then having her unashamedly walk behind him was the peak of his day so far.

  He had expected the anxiety and trepidation his Protégé had just beneath the surface, but he felt a surge of pride when she took her pce in the center of the procession of Crystal Caste parties and showed everyone the strength of her limit-breaking aura.

  “Such a dad already,” Orebe remarked at his stray thought.

  “Weren’t you the one insisting I become one?”

  “And it turns out This One was right again,” the monotone voice somehow managed to say smugly.

  He mentally rolled his eyes and refocused his attention on Director Agatha as she went over the approach the strike team he would be leading was going to take in their attack on the Stronghold. The location was a veritable fortress on its own that guarded the Reality Rift, which was the lifeblood of this city. The life that was currently being choked off.

  Paul didn’t normally do “leading” in general, but since he was the only Emerald Caster with a combat focus, he didn’t get much of a choice in the matter. He wouldn’t be very hands-on with his leading anyway, though, as his main objective was to take down Lady Ruwena and get to Tulisuda before the enemy could do any more damage. His secondary objective was to not accidentally throw a Fme Javelin into the wrong pipe and colpse a tunnel or building on top of them all.

  His powerset was designed around a very focused concept: hit it hard and hit it fast. Even the Spirit Gems he had chosen over the years supported that goal, and very rarely did he find himself regretting that role. He had been a Midshift Striker for so long that he couldn’t even imagine doing things any other way.

  He was distracted from his thoughts when a man he hadn’t expected to arrive there stood up next to the director to add his own endorsement.

  “Remember, while we would still prefer capturing any enemy target you have the opportunity to, do not take any extraneous risks in doing so. Our goal is to recim Tulisuda and restore the ley lines on which our city depends. Anyone who stands in the way of that goal is a traitor of Tulim,” Duke Victor Tul said to the gathered Sapphire Casters and the one Emerald Healer they had managed to rally on such short notice.

  Everin Starrk was another voxen that had joined the group after Paul had helped survive the infiltrated Reality Rift in Epa Toivo back when he first met the Dewsong twins. Everin had mainly kept his distance from Paul and managed to cultivate his Caste to the Emerald tier just that month. As a Spirit Advocate, the man’s Css specialized in boosts and regenerative Boons that healed slowly over time but were cheaper and more sustainable for long battles.

  The pyful voxen was also a Cleric of the Rebel, and Paul wasn’t entirely convinced that the Healer’s sudden immigration wasn’t reted to the presence of his Protégé.

  He had only had brief interactions with the Cleric, but Everin had said he had already been making his way there for the blood moon, ciming it offered fewer dangers and greater protection, but the timing and cunning way the man had with words made Paul suspicious.

  Everin hadn’t come sniffing around, however, mostly staying at the temple while assisting the AOA with healing their wounded during the months since Krafti had turned crimson. The thing that Paul had noticed most was that the Cleric was always quick to smile and find humor in any situation. The man had made their interactions seem like a test of wills on whether the voxen could make him ugh or if he could manage to maintain his stoic mask. So far, Paul had won every challenge.

  He was gd for the Healer’s presence today, however. With unknown enemies potentially waiting in the wings and the fate of a city resting on his shoulders, Paul needed as much help as he could get. An Emerald Healer, even a freshly cultivated one, was nothing short of a boon for him.

  As the AOA director made the commands for them to start heading for the frontlines of the stronghold, he found himself walking next to the Cleric, who gave him a fanged grin.

  “Greetings, Lord Padin,” Everin said casually with the foreign accent most people from Alkupera had, “I must say, I do love the new look. Though, I’m sure my goddess would have been more than willing to welcome you to our own clergy if we had known you were seeking rededication.”

  “I’m not sure Rebel would have been able to offer what I sought, Cleric Starrk,” he stated with a ft look, “I wasn’t seeking to take down a kingdom.”

  Everin’s grin widened as his pleasant tenor dripped with sarcasm, “No, you just sought to take down a noble House that has accumuted far too much power to benefit the people they were meant to serve. How silly of me to think Rebel might be interested in such a goal.”

  “My goal was not that grand,” he pointed out.

  “And yet here we are,” Everin replied, his slitted sapphire eyes dancing with mirth, “Leading an assault on a stronghold cimed by noble greed.”

  “With the backing of the Duke. I’m fairly certain we’re the ones stamping out the attempted rebellion,” Paul argued as the devil’s advocate.

  One of Everin’s five tails wrapped around to cover the bottom half of his face, like he had seen others in Blomstra do with a hand fan to seem mysterious. Then Everin said with a wink, “I think you’re beginning to understand how most things are all about perspective, Padin of Avenger.”

  “You say that like I’m not at least a decade older than you,” he griped as they began descending into the lower levels. Their speed picked up only a little as they wanted to take the enemy by surprise without leaving their Sapphire allies too far behind.

  “Age has little bearing on wisdom or experience,” the Cleric shot back, lifting up a wand to begin channeling spells through, “From what I’ve heard, you were one of those enemies until very recently. Let the long path be free of burdens.”

  Paul felt the Boon settle on him, and another scrap of paper helped spell out the effects for him, though he could intuitively sense the general idea.

  Css Ability: Light Spirited

  Type: Boon (magical, light)

  Cost: Low mana.

  Cooldown: 1 minute.

  Current Caste: Emerald 1 (2%)

  Crystal Effect: Cast on an ally to reduce the stamina cost of their abilities for a moderate duration.

  Sapphire Effect: Can cast this Boon on many allies at once for a cumutive mana cost. Additionally increases Agility by a low amount.

  Emerald Effect: Additionally increases the effects of Movement abilities and reduces the cost of Boons by a moderate amount.

  After taking in the information, the Wrath Bde finally smiled as he said, “I guess you’ll get to see what I do to my enemies. Be thankful we’re allies now as we assist your goddess in freeing their souls from their mortal containers.”

  Everin’s tail dropped to reveal an excited vulpine grin as he said, “Now you’re really getting the perspective of how I fight for freedom.”

  “Another Sapphire at ten o’clock. Forward Defender that needs execution,” Orebe reported as he finished pulling his sword from the body of a Sapphire Striker he had just dispatched.

  Paul gnced in the direction his Familiar had indicated, where a woman in heavy armor was attempting to stumble away behind the safety of the st set of walls that were keeping them back from the Reality Rift. He scowled as he asked, “Aren’t we supposed to try capturing some of them? This was the tenth Sapphire we’ve taken out so far.”

  “Capture is an extraneous risk,” she retorted quickly.

  “That woman is barely standing, and nobody else is left in this area,” Paul argued.

  “All capture attempts are riskier than execution, Waynd,” the alien mind logically stated.

  He was about to protest again when another Sapphire Caste aura came into range nearer to the enemy Defender, and he recognized the runeforged with brunette hair in tightly braided rows along the scalp and bright blue markings as his own nephew. As Patric came into range to engage the woman, she turned out not to be so injured that she couldn’t fight back.

  Orebe didn’t need to say anything more as he triggered [Meteor Strike] and rocketed forward towards the enemy. He combined it with his execution ability as he incanted, “The judgment of the righteous has deemed you guilty.”

  Css Ability: Meteor Strike

  Type: Special Attack (combination, movement, elemental, fire)

  Cost: High stamina and mana.

  Cooldown: 30 seconds.

  Current Caste: Emerald 10

  Crystal Effect: Accelerate through the air towards a target. When used with other combination attacks, any physical and Fire damage is increased during the combination.

  Sapphire Effect: An explosion is produced from the impact point, inflicting Fire damage and [Burning] on any enemies in the area.

  Emerald Effect: Any enemies in the area are also knocked back from the impact point and inflicted with [Condemnation].

  Burning (bane, elemental, fire): Inflicts ongoing Fire damage.Condemnation (bane, divine, radiant, stacking): Decreased Fire, Light, and Radiant resistance.

  Css Ability: Judgment of the Zealous

  Type: Execute (combination, purge, divine, radiant)

  Cost: High mana.

  Cooldown: 1 minute.

  Current Caste: Emerald 9 (99%)

  Crystal Effect: Enchants your weapon so that its next attack inflicts additional Radiant damage on impact. Damage is scaled based on the amount of health missing from the target.

  Sapphire Effect: Deal increased damage to enemies with Dark, Death, or Void attunements, or have the [Corrupted] status and purge a random Boon on impact.

  Emerald Effect: If used at the end of a combination attack, the weapon is automatically enchanted again at no additional cost and gains an enhanced effect.

  Paul didn’t need that second execute effect as the enemy crumpled against his sword and the wall indented with the force of the combined blow. He only took a moment to brush a finger against the woman to loot her body and begin her slower decomposition into blue ash. Then he turned to his nephew with a stern look.

  “Ah, there you are Uncle Paul,” Patric said with an amused glint in his brilliant blue eyes, “We missed you at our potion crafting party yesterday.”

  He gave him a ft look and said dryly, “I’ll have to raincheck for next time. Perhaps, you can expin to me why you’re this far behind enemy lines?”

  “I’m not really behind the line,” Patric replied as he patted a palm against the half-crumbled wall, “This is the line currently. They’ve all retreated behind the inner bulwark,” he expined with a cheeky grin and Paul found himself wondering if his nephew had been hanging out with that foxy Cleric when he hadn’t been paying attention.

  “Are we regrouping at–”

  Paul’s words halted as a voice he really hadn’t hoped to hear during this battle spoke over their temporary mental link, “Lord Waynd?”

  “What is it, kid?” he asked Dazien through the voice chat, then added with a sinking feeling, “Is she dead?”

  “Not quite but she came pretty close,” Dazien admitted, “She stacked Recoil abilities with one of the Boosters that we made yesterday which also had a Recoil effect.”

  “Hold on a second, kid,” Paul said quickly then gred at his nephew to ask, “Did you give Phoenix Recoil potions and not warn her about stacking those effects with her Recoil abilities?”

  Patric’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped as he repeated Paul’s initial question in horror, “Is she dead?”

  “So, that’s a yes. We’ll talk about that ter,” he said, then focused back on questioning Dazien, “Where are you now?”

  “I’m carrying her back to one of the healing checkpoints. She can’t fight anymore after taking on that Sapphire.”

  He couldn’t help himself as the odd sense of pride surged up as he crified, “Your party took out a Sapphire?”

  “Mostly Phoenix, but she paid the price for it,” Dazien admitted before adding softly, “I’m sorry I failed to keep her safe again, sir.”

  “We can talk about that ter,” he muttered, then gred at the wall between him and the remaining enemy forces –the wall that was between him finishing this mission and getting back to his family, “Get her to the healers and I’ll meet up with you soon.”

  “Uncle, we still need to regroup at the gate to–”

  Paul raised his greatsword, the normally golden runes still glowing brightly with Radiant energy along the onyx bde from the executing enchantment still empowering it. The bde looked cut from jet bck crystal with the light coming from the runes, and he brought it down on the wall itself, bsting a hole right through the defensive structure.

  “Or we could just go through this convenient backdoor that so suddenly appeared,” Patric said, then added after noticing his gre, “I’ll just go get the others to meet you here.”

  “So how long until we get inside?” Paul asked with a huff of annoyance.

  “I’m not a magical lockpick, Waynd,” retorted Ethan Teras who was currently waving a wand at the rift that was dangerously crackling with lightning chains around it, “Reality Rifts are not my specialty, that’s your cousin’s domain.”

  “Where’s Camil then?” he asked, going over to look at the tome the Magi had been referencing earlier, “Don’t you usually keep her on hand?”

  Ethan paused to gnce at him, “Would you really want me to bring her to an active combat zone, even as a supporting ritualist on the backlines?”

  “Not when you say it like that,” he grumbled at the man with whom he had rekindled friendship with over the st couple of months since his return. Working together to protect the city and his Protégé had forced their proximity and they both remembered that they actually enjoyed each other’s company.

  “Patience, Paul,” Ethan said, refocusing back on the Rift that had been sealed in a rush, “Camil’s on her way now, but I’m hoping to crack it myself before she arrives. Lady Ruwena might be the Chancellor of the OOM, but this was a sloppy job done out of desperation. We’ll get in soon enough. Why don’t you just go check in on that girl of yours?”

  He nodded absently then paused and decided to let his friend know, “It’s not quite official yet, but she agreed to let me adopt her.”

  Ethan’s head snapped to look at him with surprise before he broke into a smile, “That’s wonderful, Paul. Congratutions on gaining a scion. I can say from experience that it can be a wonderful blessing.”

  “Thanks, Ethan. How are Polissa and Simmon anyway? We don’t really talk about them much,” he added a bit awkwardly.

  His friend ughed, returning to the task at hand while speaking, “They’re here helping in the battle actually. I’m proud of how far they’ve come already, but I’ll admit it made me feel old when they became Crystal Casters. Polissa’s twenty already and Simmon just turned sixteen shortly before you arrived back here.”

  The Rift turned a warm orange color then, the blue lightning seeming to lessen slightly, and Ethan noted, “Well that’s a good sign,” before gncing at Paul once more and admitting, “Honestly, I haven’t talked about them much because I didn’t think family life appealed to you.”

  “I’m a Waynd,” Paul said with a roll of his eyes, “We’re all about family. Pati’s a great example.”

  Ethan nodded and said hesitantly, “She is, but you’ve always kind of been the bck sheep of the family, no offense intended. You left them behind, Paul.”

  “Not because I wanted to,” he grumbled. “I’m still surprised my father kept me as heir after our st argument that made me leave the city. He made it clear I wasn’t welcome.”

  “So, why did you come back? You could have petitioned the summons,” Ethan pointed out as he moved to the side to reference the book once more.

  Paul gave him a crooked smile. “Because my family asked me to.”